Le plume de ma taunt

So I filled a bucket with hot water and floor cleaner and scrubbed the kitchen floor.

Why I felt like ironing is beyond me, but I did.

I then gathered up all the stray bits of washing.

The house is now grime free.

I then found myself vacuuming, in the buff, well the demons had got me. I was too hot to wear anything, and no I don't look anything like Ms. Griffiths in 'Working Woman'.

Dom, was raking leaves and snipping hydrangeas. I feared he may walk past the kitchen window with his wheelbarrow so every time I went down stairs I draped myself in a quilt that was made for BB when she was born.
The thing is ripped and all the stuffing is coming out of it, I can't get rid of it, throwing away twenty years of memories.
But it's just the right size to do one turn round my body and it stays up for about 20 paces.

I did our bedroom, smiling as I went back and forth with the Dyson. Then one unwealdy move and I'd sucked up the belt from Jim's blue-polkadot-silk, dressing gown. I must remember to tell him.

I dusted the piano, telling myself, as I do every time, to get rid of all the tut that's underneath it, behind it and on top of it. I never do.

I fancy I look like a genteel piano teacher with all the photographs that are perched on top.
(The way the industry is going that's what I'll probably end up doing!)

I have photographs of my father, his parents, my parents, Jim's parents. There is a picture of Jim and me holding BB at our wedding.
In the right light, with the wind behind you, you could swear it was my mother holding me.
Genes eh?

After a long time in the shower, I mean long enough to wash away the regrets and recriminations, I took Jackson down the road to buy a paper or three.
Then we went to the pub.
I bought Jackson a bag of beef jerky for his lunch.
I had tuna salad, which was crisp and incredibly uninteresting.

The landlord was there, and two old men talking about SAD.
Seasonal Affective Doodah.
The pub was very quiet, empty and nearly depressing, even though there was a log fire crackling in the massive grate.
I could say it was a picture of bucolic bon-homie but I would be lying.
I read one paper, cleared the last of the tuna then Jackson and I headed home.

The cottage is very clean, very quiet and very still.

The evening is very dark, very quite and very still.

I am unashamedly lounging in my pj's and a big cardigan, preparing for the return of the hunter gatherer, who I think is home late, They open next week.

Comments

1. At November 28, 2007 5:00 PM chrissie twickenham wrote:

Hi Jeni,

It will be a big change to your life, not having the flat. Try and stay positive. All those places that you feel are yours when you stay in London, are still yours and always will be. If you need a west London pad from time to time, then use ours, its empty half the year.
I understand so well about the comfort of P.Js. If I want to read a book, I need to change into mine. I gets me into that frame of mind.
Think your pub is a dead loss and doesn't seem to be raising your spirits.
Now, keep your chin up. Chrissie x x

2. At November 28, 2007 6:15 PM Fee wrote:

The thing I hate is people constantly licking their fingers when they're eating something. It's always happened but there seems to be a pattern now, thumb, forefinger and middle finger have they seen it on Big Brother or something? They should use their serviettes, sorry napkins!

xxxFee

3. At November 28, 2007 6:32 PM rhianon wrote:

If you give up your London flat I will miss your words about the great city. You make it alive for me. I think I've been to London fewer times than I've been to Europe. Odd, eh? I suppose for me theres no real reason to visit. I don't know anyone there. People always say we overlook what we have all around us in favour of a more distant view. Maybe they're right.
Get better, eh? This is no time to be ill!

4. At November 28, 2007 9:49 PM June wrote:

Hallo Jeni

As a child in the sixties attending a girl’s secondary modern school on a large council estate, one of our first cookery lessons was to make a cup of tea and prepare a tea tray. As my parents had delusions of grandeur we had a tray and tray cloth at home but one of the girl’s asked “do we put the tea towel on the tray now miss” Miss looked mortified!

Oh stayed in London over the weekend and had brekies in the Fresh Bean Café, loved it, food great, staff friendly, lots of mags to read, just a cosy cosy place.

Jeni dear Jeni I know it will be a wrench to give up the flat but you do wear me out with all your travelling back and forth from the cottage to the flat, as Chrissie says keep your chin up though - I would have said keep your pecker up but I did that in a room full of Americans once and have since learned my lesson, the whole room went quiet before someone explained to this naive Welsh girl what pecker meant in America....I'm still blushing! so now I stick to chin!
Love ya
Marmite Girl xx

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UK TV presenter Jeni Barnett's blog: Acting is all about honesty, if you can fake that you can fake anything.